Pound pushed lower in face of hard Brexit

Britain's pound took another hammering yesterday following reports that Prime Minister Theresa May was ready to take the country out of the European Union abruptly - in a so-called "hard Brexit".

Sterling's weakness sent London's FTSE 100 index to a fresh record high, while eurozone and Asian stock markets retreated.

"It would appear that the main catalyst behind this pound sell-off is speculation that May will set out the UK government's position on negotiating Brexit," said Michael Hewson, chief market analyst at CMC Markets.

Sterling plunged to $1.1986/£1, its lowest level since October's "flash crash" that had sent it to a 31-year low of $1.1841.

"Weakness in sterling has been the primary means by which the FTSE 100 has notched up its record-breaking run," said Chris Beauchamp, chief market analyst at IG trading group, after the index hit a record high at 7354.14 points following a string of peaks over the past few weeks.

The pound has fallen sharply since Britain voted in June to exit the EU, pushing up share prices of multinationals on the FTSE index of 100 firms including the likes of energy giants Shell and BP.

Most Asian stock markets retreated as investors nervously await US president-elect Donald Trump's inauguration speech on Friday, having been left disappointed at his lack of detail on economic policy last week.

May won endorsement from Trump yesterday over her Brexit course, with him saying that Britain leaving the EU would "end up as a great thing", adding in an interview with The Times newspaper that he would work for a trade deal with post-Brexit Britain "quickly and done properly".

• The JSE breached the 53000-point mark for the first time in more than four months yesterday powered by mining and industrial stocks.

The JSE all share was up 0.65% to 53137.20 points at lunch time, its best level since September, as resources strengthened 1.26% and gold miners 2.99%.

Diversified miners rode last week's momentum when stocks such as Anglo American rocketed nearly 14% in five days.

Gold stocks benefited from a weaker rand and the gold price rallied for the seventh session running and held at about $1,200.